


A Shadowy Confrontation

by The_Myth_Rider



Series: The Dragon Who Shadowed An Emperor [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotherly Love, Crossover, Dragons, Gen, I'm proud of this one, Pre-Time Skip, it's actually kinda sweet, not to Byleth but against Byleth, on the part of Shadow, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Myth_Rider/pseuds/The_Myth_Rider
Summary: Byleth was simply taking a quiet moment alone in the wyvern roost, ignoring Sothis' worried rambling, when she found herself confronted by quite the individual.
Series: The Dragon Who Shadowed An Emperor [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610260
Kudos: 4





	A Shadowy Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

> It occurred to me that the rest of my little Shadowverse ficlets should be up here, too.

_It knows!_

Byleth blinked and glanced around, but no one was near. She was in the wyvern roost, to pay a visit to the beast that had been given to Edelgard when her tutelage had let the princess get certified as a wyvern rider. It was late at night, most of the wyverns asleep and no other human soul in the roost. But then, Byleth suspected that it was not a human soul Sothis was worried about.

_Are you sure?_

An exasperated sigh reverberated through her mind.

 _Of course I’m sure! I’m the only one of the two of us who can actually_ see _it, after all. I’m telling you, it knows we’re aware of its presence._

Byleth, calm and expressionless as always, simply shrugged and continued to stroke the nose of Edelgard’s wyvern. The brown-scaled beast hummed happily, curled up around the woman who sat in their stall, their head rested on her lap. The tip of their tail occasionally twitched, pleased and comfortable, both them and Byleth content to be silent together.

_I highly doubt it would do anything to us. If it’s as attached to Edelgard as you say, odds are it values her to some degree. We’ll just leave it be, if it chooses to do anything, I doubt we’re in any danger._

_If you get us killed because you underestimated this mysterious beast’s intentions, I swear, I will not let you live it down!_

Byleth ignored the strange girl in her head, and refocused on the wyvern that nudged her insistently when her pets had slowed. It was an awfully needy beast, but it performed well on the battlefield, and responded diligently to Edelgard when they followed Byleth’s orders. In fact, they made quite the pair, and more often than not ended up making quick work of whatever enemy Byleth and her students encountered.

Blue eyes narrowed as Byleth remembered how Sothis had described the mysterious beast that followed Edelgard, the one that no human could see, and only Sothis apparently could.

She’d described it as…draconic…a dragon that walked as a man, great gold bull horns, a chin for days, and a great crimson mane; all connected to an abyssal black face with shining blue-gold eyes. According to Sothis, the beast was an impressive specimen, whose size and physique put every one of the mighty warriors they’d ever met to shame. If they were a dragon, then…what exactly were they doing following the heir of the Empire around, what did they want? They never seemed to interact with the world much, from what Sothis had seen; they’d only ever shadowed Edelgard everywhere she went, seemingly very intent on keeping her company.

Edelgard’s wyvern suddenly snorted, and pulled their head away from Byleth’s lap as they shot up to their feet. Tail coiled at attention behind it, wings raised and lips pulled back, the beast crept backward until it pressed into a corner of its stall. Byleth stood, slowly and calmly, as she had a suspicion what had spooked the wyvern so. No one, not even Hubert, would be up and awake and would encounter the professor here.

Byleth turned around, and immediately glanced upward past the enormous black-red-gold chest of a great draconic beast.

It was humanoid in structure, very much like how Sothis had described it. She failed to mention how very tall it was, Byleth noted with amusement, as she tilted her head to the side. The beast was scowling at her, its fluffy russet eyebrows bunched like bloody storm clouds over the blue-gold eyes Sothis had told her about, that in this moment seemed to glow with power. It had drawn itself up proudly, wide shoulders back, paw-like hands clenched tight at its sides. Its long, jagged snout was calm for the most part, but Byleth could see the tremor in its lips, like it resisted the urge to snarl.

Byleth stared up at it, her blank face wholly unchanged, and raised a hand to wave.

“Hello, it’s good to finally meet you properly.”

Its eyes narrowed, and that attempt to not snarl seemed to weaken as sharp white teeth peeked past the black and red lips.

“So you were aware of me…”

Byleth shrugged. “To be fair, I never actually saw you myself.”

That seemed to surprise it, as the angry brow calmed into a more confused bunch, their body relaxing as it lost hostility in the face of confusion.

“I’m…sorry, I’m confused.”

Byleth could hear Sothis giggle.

The dragon crossed its arms and narrowed its eyes down at Byleth.

“I must admit, I would have expected you to be more surprised to see me. Who, then, managed to see me and alert you to my presence?”

Its lips twitched as it inclined its great head. “Even Rhea and Seteth cannot see me…so how, pray tell, can you?”

Byleth shrugged. “I’d love to tell you, but I actually don’t quite know myself.”

The beast raised an eyebrow, and tilted its head as it rested his paws on its armored hips.

“You…don’t even know? How can you not know?”

Byleth shook her head. “There’s someone in my head, but I don’t know who it is, and they actually don’t know either. They’re the one who saw you.”

_What are you doing? Have you lost what few wits that you have left? What if they mean us harm, you fool?!_

“You…have someone…in your head? And they’re the one who can see me?”

Byleth nodded, dutifully ignoring Sothis’ indignant yelling in her mind.

The beast blinked as it sighed, then raised a paw to scratch the back of its fluffy mane.

“Huh, well…now I feel awkward, I was expecting you to be more of a threat. But you’re just…you simply don’t know, do you?”

Byleth sighed, her gaze dropping a bit. “There’s an awful lot that I don’t know, but I do know one thing, at least.”

She looked back up at the dragon, her arms crossed as she let a small smirk appear.

“You always follow Edelgard around, wherever she goes. According to the little voice in my head, you’re only ever around when she is.”

If the beast could blush, Byleth imagined it would as it winced and looked away. As it did, though, the wyvern that watched them from the corner seemed to catch its eyes. Byleth watched as the dragon walked past her, and slowly approached the wyvern. They crouched low as they neared it, paws held out in a gentle, placating manner, and she could hear it whisper and coo softly to them.

Byleth’s eyes widened as they realized it spoke in another language, and even Sothis quieted in interest.

“Shh, hush _buun, lak kao bi jallan. Li kha hu hyal, li kha hu dahv lahyk yae.”_

Byleth slowly walked closer to them, though she ensured that the wyvern didn’t get spooked by her as well. The strange dragon was clearly doing its best to console the wyvern, and she didn’t want to ruin its efforts. As she watched, and as the dragon kept speaking its strange language, it oddly enough seemed to work. With every word the dragon spoke, the wyvern watched it and actually appeared to be consoled by what it said.

_How strange that the wyvern actually understands its words…_

Byleth heard Sothis muse, and she internally agreed. Throughout all her travels as a mercenary with her father, she’d never heard such a tongue. It didn’t even sound similar to any one that she actually had encountered. The oddest part had to be that the wyvern took the words to heart, and Byleth’s eyes widened as she watched Edelgard’s mount reach out their head and nuzzle the strange dragon.

 _Fascinating…_ She heard Sothis murmur in her mind. … _maybe there is more to Edelgard’s mysterious shadow than meets the eye?_

Byleth slowly approached and crouched beside the dragon as they stroked the wyvern’s jaw, still quietly cooing to them under its breath.

“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced…” Byleth began, and waited for the dragon to blink over at her before she continued. She reached out a hand to them, and managed to keep a small smile on her face.

“My name is Byleth Eisner.”

The dragon eyed her hand, then met her gaze.

“My name is of no importance.”

Byleth hesitated for a moment, ignored Sothis’ complaint at their attitude, and kept her hand out. Her patience was rewarded as the dragon eventually smiled, and removed one of its paws from the wyvern to gently take Byleth’s hand and shake it.

“But you may call me Shadow, Edelgard’s name for me.”


End file.
